KIVA

I was blown away by this organization when I learned about it at Willow Creek's Leadership Summit! The organization was founded four years ago by a group of friends. It is a micro-financing company that establishes loans for entrepreneurs around the globe who can't get loans from banks. Loans are established between the future business owners and someone willing to finance them and their cause.

For example, take a woman in Peru, Maria, who wants to start a bike shop. She needs $2000 dollars to get her business started, but is denied a loan for whatever reason. She applies to Kiva to be an "Entrepreneur" on their site. Kiva gathers her information and approves her after making sure her request is legitimate. On the other end of the spectrum, John Smith is interested in financing a loan request. He knows of Kiva's great reputation and wants to make a difference, empowering someone by helping him to reach his dream and start a business. John creates a profile through Kiva as a "Lender" and peruses the loans. He sees Maria's profile and connects with her dream. He can then click on her profile and lend her money through Kiva.

ANYONE can finance a loan and can do so for as little as $25. Kiva has a 98.5% success rate when it comes to business owners repaying their loans. Kiva's beta-test group began with three lenders needing a total of $3000 in loan money. Today (just four years later) Kiva has facilitated the lending of $85 million dollars. Wow. What a story.

Jessica Jackley, the co-founder of Kiva, was at the Summit and shared about Kiva. The exciting thing about the company, besides their great reputation, is that it doesn't take much to empower someone you don't even know. Plus, with the way Kiva is designed, Entrepreneurs and Lenders are connected and learn about each other. So, Lenders aren't blindly supporting someone, but see the progress being made and feel good about their financial decision. Entrepreneurs feel supported and motivated by the connections made with their Lender(s). They know that people are cheering for them and the success of their business.

It's brilliant and I am so impressed. I walked away from the session excited and pumped about supporting people across the globe in their business ventures. I also thought, how can I work for them?? Hrm...